The Rescue
by Fheilimi
Summary: The Chasers are brought into an unexpected mission. Enjoy!


The Rescue

It was a bright and sunny spring day as the Tigeroid airship soared through the puffy white clouds. Rai sighed as he was keeping watch on the deck with Tori.

"Man, sometimes, when we've been up in the air for a while," he said, "it feels like there's not even a world below, ya know?"

Tori smiled and nodded, "yeah, it feels like there's nothing but this fluffy cloud world, and all this blue sky!"

"Maybe Sena won't be such a pain and let us land for once," Rai muttered, "we haven't been on the ground for nearly a week!"

There had been a bad disaster when an army of Dragonoids had attacked several fleets of Tigeroid warriors dangerously close to the secret Tigeroid base. Five out of the six Tigeroid ships were destroyed beyond repair, it was one of the worst attacks documented on Earth for the Tigeroids. The leaders sent out a notice to all travelling Tigeroid ships to stay away from and to keep from entering the base and off the ground until further notice, or if they had special permission from the elders.

Tori frowned, "I don't know, Rai. Honestly, I think it might be a little while before the elders give the all clear for us, especially for us."

"I don't see why we have to wait for so long, though!" Rai said, "it's not like the attack was anywhere near our ship, and besides, there hasn't been any attacks since!"

"That doesn't mean the Dragonoids aren't still planning something."

Sena walked out onto the deck, nearly scaring Rai out of his skin as Tori snickered.

Rai whirled around, "jeez, Sena! I told you, you can't sneak up on me like that! You about gave me a heart attack!"

"Oh, get over yourself, Rai," Sena said, rolling her eyes, "is that what you would say if a Dragonoid snuck up on you?"

"Yeah, well you're scarier than a Dragonoid sometimes..." Rai muttered, as Sena glared at the clouds.

"I heard that, and good," she said, "have you two seen anything suspicious?"

Tori shook his head, "no, Sena, just a lot of clouds and sky."

Sena nodded, "that's good."

Rai and Tori looked at each other and then at Sena, confused.

"Uh, Sena, are you okay?" Tori asked, "you've seemed kind of on edge lately, I mean, ever sinse we learned about the attacks..."

Sena glanced at the two of them, "oh, I guess I haven't really noticed. I'm fine, we just need to be prepared for anything, you know? I'm going to go check with Finn and Hak in the command room, let me know if anything comes up."

Tori frowned as Sena walked off, "she's such a bad liar, if she wants to feel better she should just talk about how badly the news scared her."

"I'd be surprised if that ever happened," Rai said, looking out to the sea of clouds, "she always keeps things bottled up."

"She so set on following the leaders' orders, but I wonder what we'll do when Hak senses a Tai Chi symbol," Tori said, "it's bound to come up at some point, the cards don't care whether or not there's been a bad fight."

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon," Rai said.

That evening the team sat down to eat dinner, all except Sena and Hak, who were keeping watch at the controls.

"It really hope the elders give the all clear, soon," Donha said, sadly, "then maybe Sena will let herself to enjoy my cooking."

The dinner was quick and was eaten with few words spoken, and as Tori was helping Donha with the dishes Rai and Finn went to the command room to bring her a plate of food.

When they walked into the command room they were surprised to see General Aidan on the screen speaking with Sena. They stopped talking as soon a Rai and Finn walked in.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rai asked, setting the plate on the arm of Sena's chair.

Sena sighed and looked at her father, who nodded in approval, then turned to look at the two:

"There's no sign of the Dragonoids around the base anymore," she said, "but it appears that the Dragonoids have kidnapped some of our Tigeroid warriors."

Finn remained composed as Rai's eyes widened and asked, "well, what can we do? I mean, we have to do something!"

"We're doing all we can at the moment," General Aidan said, looking tired, "it's not that simple, we have to be very careful."

"How many Tigeroids were captured?" Finn asked.

"We came to a total of nineteen," General Aidan replied, "the rest of the warriors are either injured or are accounted for. No casualties this time."

Rai relaxed a little bit, "okay, well, can't we just get them back? This can't be the first time something like this has happened!"

Aidan frowned, "again, it's not that simple. Yes, we've had Tigeroids get captured before, and yes we have rescued them. But the Dragonoids were very careful with this attack, we haven't found a trace of where they could've gone."

"The elders have sent out almost all of our forces to look for the ones responsible for the attack," Sena said, "my sisters are a part of the search fleets, it's like the Dragonoids have disappeared into thin air."

Rai swallowed hard, "well, what will happen if we don't get to them in time?"

General Aidan was quiet for a moment, weighing his words, "we've been able to recover all Tigeroids who've been captured before. If we don't find these nineteen, then it's likely they'll be sent back to Suhn to work as slaves for the Dragonoids, alongside with the other Tigeroids who were unable to flee when the Tai Chi was scattered and the Dragonoids took over."

The room was silent for a moment, and Tori and Donha walked in, but immediately regretted it, seeing how tense everyone was.

"But," Aidan said, breaking the silence, "the reason why I've contacted you all is because the elders have given the all clear for coming out of hiding. We've decided that it's best to put all our energies in trying to find these lost nineteen warriors as soon as we possibly can."

"What do you want our team to do, dad?" Sena asked, looking determined.

"Right now I want your group to keep on course," Aidan replied, "we haven't sent any ships in the direction you're headed yet, so you need to be our eyes in case that's where the Dragonoids are, because that might be a stronge possibility. If you come across anything suspicious contact me immediately."

Sena nodded, "we won't let you down, dad."

"I know you won't," Aidan said, smiling for the first time as his screen switched off.

"Okay, it's good that we finally got some new orders," Sena said, trying to brush off the uneasy feeling she had, "for tonight, I'll keep watch, the rest of you can get some sleep. Finn, you'll keep watch first thing in the morning."

"Sena, be sure and eat," Donha said, "we won't be able to get anywhere if you don't take care of yourself."

Sena smiled and said, "okay, Donha, I promise I'll take better care of myself. Now go to bed, twenty-four hour watch starts now."

Everyone tried to get as much sleep as they could, but too much was on their minds to get any good rest. Sena remained at the controls with Hak until morning and Finn took over as she went to her room to sleep.

"How're we gonna find those warriors with so much ground to cover?" Donha wondered, as he and Tori walked around on deck, "it's gonna be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Tori frowned, "I know, part of me kind of hopes that we're the ones who find them, but then it's going to take a lot of work trying to free them. Especially since we're the only Tigeroids in this area."

Donha and Tori continued to talk, meanwhile Rai met with Finn the command room.

"Has anything come up yet?" he asked a very still and silent Finn.

Finn shook his head, "it's been quiet all day, something doesn't seem right."

"You got that right."

The two turned around as Hak walked in, fresh from a nap.

"What do you mean?" Rai asked.

"I've been sensing stuff like crazy!" Hak replied, hopping up on his platform.

"Well, why haven't you told anybody?" Rai cried, frustrated.

"Because I didn't begin to sense anything until now!" Hak snapped back, "this new area we just flew into, there's something not right about it."

"Well that's helpful," Rai muttered, "can you be a little more specific, please?"

"There's a weird energy," Hak said, staring at the map in front of him, "I can't tell if it's a Tai Chi or if it has to do with the missing Tigeroids."

"We need to contact General Aidan," Finn said, clicking on the communications button, but nothing happened.

"Um, uh, Finn, please don't tell me that the communications system is broken," Rai stammered.

"Okay, I won't tell you."

"Oh, jeez, this isn't good!" Rai exclaimed, running over to the intercom, "hey, Tori, Donha, are you guys seeing anything suspicious?"

"No, Rai, we're not seeing anything," Donha replied, "there's nothing out here, not a cloud in the sky, either."

Sena walked in, looking very tired, "Rai, Finn, Hak, what's going on?"

"Our communications are down," Hak said, "for lack of better words, we're kind of on our own. We have no connections to the elders or General Aidan."

Sena's eyes widened, "we need to get in battle formation-"

But Sena's words were cut off when an explosion rang out as a section of the ship burst into flames. Everyone in the room fell to the floor in the force of the shaking and reeling as the airship spun out of control.

"Gahhhhh! Hak, can you get this thing under control!?" Sena cried, holding on to the table with all her might.

"I'm trying! Prepare for a crash landing!" Hak yelled as the ship was coming closer and closer to the green land below.

The airship came to a crashing halt in the middle of a forest, knocking down trees and anything else in its path. Finn, Sena, and Rai staggered to their feet, trying to make sense of what just happened. Hak was standing, tail on end, breathing hard and trembling a little.

"Ug, Tori, Donha!" Sena called through the intercom, weakly, "are you guys okay?"

After a pause Donha called back, "uh, yeah, we're okay. What could've made us crash?"

"I don't know," Sena replied, "did you or Tori see anything?"

"No," Donha said, "everything was clear and then we heard an explosion. We didn't see anything that could've caused it."

Sena, Rai and Finn ran out onto the deck to find smoke billowing out of the side of the ship.

"Tai Chi Chun! Stream!"

Sena put out the fire that was quickly spreading from the ship to some of the trees nearby, luckily avoiding a major forest fire.

"What the heck!"

Tori came running over, looking battered, "where the heck did that come from?"

"I don't know!" Hak said, running out to meet them, "I only felt like something was wrong, that's when we discovered our communications was down, and then the explosion happened! It's almost like we were-"

"Sabotaged?"

Suddenly, Jahara and Ave appeared on a hovercraft, their cards at the ready.

The Chasers circled into a battle formation, getting ready for anything.

"You Tigeroids are so predictable!" Ave exclaimed, gleefully, "it's always been your weakness, always trying to help rescue your lost or wounded warriors, it makes you vulnerable!"

"Dragonoids will always be stronger!" Jahara said, "because we only let the strong survive. If any of our race is captured or defeated, it's because they don't deserve the title of a Dragonoid!"

"And that's why nobody wants to be your friends, you wackos!" Tori cried, ready to strike at any moment.

"Why would you think we're looking for the lost warriors?" Sena asked, measuring her words carefully.

"Don't try and play dumb," Jahara snarled, "why else would you be in this part of the world?"

The Chasers looked at one another and beamed.

"Wait," Rai said, "are you saying the warriors are nearby?"

The confidence that was once filling the Dragonoids' faces drained, and left a pale expression.

"No, we're not!" Ave shouted, "besides, even if they were, there's no way to contact your fellow Tigeroids! And there's no way you can get past us!"

Sena smiled smugly, "way to give away your hiding spot!"

"Enough of this," Jahara snapped, "I'm glad you brats showed up, it'll be nice to add you as prisoners to our collection!"

- Will be continued in a Second Chapter -


End file.
